


Thor's Opportunity

by darius44



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Real World, Gen, Mars, NASA, Science, mars rovers, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 22:45:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17796164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darius44/pseuds/darius44
Summary: Thor finds Bruce sad and sniffling. Brue confesses that Ohe Mars Rover "Oppy" Opportunity had died; Thor comes up with a plan.This work is an AU for the Marvel universe.





	Thor's Opportunity

Bruce shifted, and Thor heard a tiny sound.  
It couldn’t be! Was Bruce Banner, Master Scientist, sniffling?  
Thor waited, languidly seated at the other end of the table, and he waited.  
Bruce sniffled and Thor felt a rush of affection, the same he always did for humans.  
Thor set down his… ‘micro-scoper’ and reached out to Bruce, gently brushing his hair to the side.  
Bruce stirred, and rose their head up to look confusedly ahead.  
Thor noticed the tear streaks and inwards his heart skipped a beat.  
‘Oh Bruce, what has wrought these tears?’ thought Thor quietly, waiting for Bruce to speak.  
“It is… stupid,” Bruce began, slowly, unsure of what to say to the god sitting in front of him. It was always a tad intimidating to be in the presence of such deities. Even Steve had mentioned his nervousness around Thor.  
“Surely, It isn’t stupid, Banner” said Thor softly, his hand resting inches from Bruce’s own, “Why are you sad?”  
Bruce sniffled again, blinking to hold back his tears.  
“On Mars, there’s a Rover,” started Bruce getting up and flicking on some screens, “Called Opportunity. It got dusts on its Solar Panels and… it failed to recharge. This was the last message it sent.”  
Bruce clicked with something in his hand, and a screen showed letters in big bold fonts:  
“MY BATTERY IS LOW AND  
IT’S GETTING DARK.”  
Thor stared, letting it all sink in. He waited for Bruce to continue.  
After a beat, Bruce said, with a sort of soul-heavy sigh Thor knew was a great portent of sadness, “NASA declared it dead recently. And somehow… that breaks my heart.”  
With the way Bruce’s voice cracked on the last word, Thor knew there was only one thing to do: he got up, strode over to Dr. Banner, and gave the old human a nice warm (and a muscular) embrace.  
Bruce, who was at first surprised, practically melted into the embrace. Thor could feel the sadness radiating from the man, and alas, even the god of thunder could not help but feel an odd sadness too.  
“Please rest, I will be back” said Thor kindly, pulling Bruce back and grasping him by the shoulders.  
Bruce looked up confused, and by the moment, getting even more confused.  
‘Back from where??? Where could Thor go at this point???’ were the questions bouncing around Bruce’s head.  
As he made to move, Thor suddenly gave the old man a hug, turned around, and walked away outside, snagging his hammer from the railing where the kind Janitor Mr. Lee had put it.  
Bruce watched with increasing fascination mixed with horror as Thor swung his hammer, there was a bright flash of light, and Thor literally ascended into the heavens.  
‘Oh my god… Thor is going to go fix Oppy’ thought Bruce, still bewildered and staring at the now marked spot on the Gardens of Avengers HQ.  
\---  
“Jarvis Am I reading this right?” asked Steve, perplexed, “Thor is on… Mars?”  
“Yes, Mr. Rogers” came the simple answer.  
Steve took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.  
Mars… Thor was on Mars… but… HOW?  
‘Oh, right, he’s a god’ remembered Steve; this realisation didn’t help lessen the bizarreness of the situation.  
Steve opened his eyes and followed Bruce coming in, looking exactly as confused as Steve himself felt; the scientist activated some other monitors and proceeded to use the Avenger’s Satellites to track the side of Mars where a new life sign had been indicated.  
“NASA is about to have a field day huh?” said Steve, smiling.  
For the first time in the last day, Bruce giggled.  
Oh, this was all going to be wonderfully amazing for sure, thought Steve, walking over to Bruce scrutinise a little dot moving to the last known location of ‘Oppy’.  
‘We sure do love our robots, huh’ thought Steve; he realised he too had grown somewhat attached to this machine.  
Steve couldn’t wait to tell Becky all about this once he recovered.  
\--  
In a land of red hues and Martian stones, a god fell through a blinding white and green portal, landing unceremoniously among the stones.  
Thor looked up and realised he didn’t need to breathe- though this did not stop his dramatic flailing at the lack of oxygen.  
He got up, Mjolnir in hand, and took a look around.  
The land was barren, but he could sense it was a beautiful world once; perhaps, when the universe had been far younger, this was a beautiful place, a ‘garden world’ as Bruce had theorised.  
Pushing his wandering science thoughts aside (for they could wait), Thor took the figuratively inhaled, and walked forward.  
‘Oppy’ was not far; he could sense its buzz from here; ‘here’ being a relative term.  
So, Thor walked, and walked. Intermittently, he would feel someone watching him from the skies. He sensed this to be the Super Satellite that Thor had helped build.  
That was good, for it meant Bruce was keeping track of him.  
The buzz had become stronger; but also ‘sadder’. Thor could now sense a machine not far from him.  
He suddenly felt a great urgency, so Thor began to jog.  
He began to swing his hammer and as it gathered speed, it picked up; his entire being crackled with pure energy and once he felt sure he was ready; he pointed to the exact location of Oppy and… flew.  
\--  
The charts back at Avengers HQ caused Bruce to practically fly at the monitor.  
So, Thor was more serious than he thought. This was good; as he tinkered and tweaked, regulating information flow and other readings, he realised he was excited.  
Steve could feel it too; the excitement was practically radiating off Banner, and Steve was smiling like a kid at Christmas.  
\--  
Thor landed briskly near a massive machine; he had forgotten just how large these primitive machines were.  
And right away, he felt an intense sadness wash over him; it was palpable, like a bitter sweet taste of fruits from the past. He surveyed the machine, lost in thought.  
Oppy carried the curiosity, hope and sheer determination of the humans of Midgard. It was already a minor miracle, having survived 15 years instead of a mere three months.  
And now, it was time to bring Oppy back.  
Thor lifted his hammer, spinning it faster and faster; Thor’s left hand crackled with pure energy, his Asgardian form replete with tendrils of the vigour of the cosmos.  
Thor found the dust covered panels, and almost lazily waved his hand over it.  
The dust exploded around him, a thick storm of red Martian dirt blasted to the side.  
The machine started to leak dust upwards; the energy from Thor, the God of thunder, was cleaning the machine meticulously from every nook and cranny.  
Thor smiled and touched the machine’s battery component, his hand almost covered with raging maelstrom of energy. It roiled and washed all over the machine, and surrounded the machine and god into a cube of pure energy. Parts of Opportunity previously broke mended themselves, looking quickly like they’d never been touched.  
And then, a most wonderful thing happened; the machine practically burst to life, making all sorts of movements and jittering to and fro.  
Thor tapered down his energy release and stepped back.  
The machine looked around first. Surveying the land, idly picking up a stray rock, scanning it and carefully placing it out of the way.  
Thor leisurely stepped out of the way of the Rover, as it moved ahead, not a care in that world.  
Then, the machine turned around and levelled its face at him.  
“THANK YOU” said Oppy.  
Thor was pretty sure Machines have souls, at this point; the telepathic thought confirmed it.  
Thor smiled, and with a flick of fingers, released the last of the energy needed to completely recharge the machine for years to come.  
Oppy paused, and surveyed the land, standing idly next to a god.  
Both machine and god stared off into the wondrous Martian landscape, quiet in contemplation.  
Oppy buzzed again, excitedly spinning its hidden gadgetry.  
Thor was pretty sure is work was done, and now Oppy was communicating with NASA.  
The god casually flew up and away, remarking at the sheer beauty of the rover and the Martian landscape.  
Perhaps, in some future before Ragnarok, humans may settle here.  
\--  
“SIR!!!” yelled the intern, bursting into the office with little grace and a lot of hurry.  
The bored man looked up from his reports and sighed; this better be good.  
“What the hell is it, Maxwell?” he said icily, fixing the boy with a death glare.  
“What, the Opportunity is back online?” he said, sarcastically.  
Maxwell eyes widened, and he just… nodded.  
Several seconds passed where they both stared at each other, one suddenly scared for his job, and one very annoyed.  
“What the FU—do y--” started the old man but the young boy quickly interrupted him, almost shouting back in response.  
“Please, just come down to the Communication centre” he said, his excitement finally showing.  
“I’m not--” started the old man again, his agitation growing, but he was cut short by two figures entering his vision.  
Dr. Banner, renowned scientist and national hero Captain America AKA Steve Rogers, and after introductions, gestured him to please follow. They were visibly excited too.  
\--  
The Chief stepped into the Communication centre and… stopped dead.  
In front of him was live footage from none other than “Oppy”.  
“Well, I’ll be damned” he said quietly, approaching the huddle of scientist around a monitor.  
The huddle cleared, showing their bright and cheery smiles around a monitor with a simple message on it.  
“I AM BACK ONLINE. MISSION CONTINUES AS BEFORE. I AM ALIVE. OUR PROJECT OF THE STARS SHALL FOREVER CONTINUE.”  
The director took a few seconds to let it sink in, and then, as if on queue, the entire room erupted in cheers. Everyone hi-fived and hugged and laughed together, their sheer joy palpable in the air; their cheers were mixed with applause and hooting.  
Even Bruce and Steve received a one harmed hug each from the giant of a man in a suit; the god of thunder had quietly made his way back.  
Banner couldn’t be happier; his friend had really done the impossible. The discovery of Mars would continue unhindered for the forseeable future.  
Opportunity had, once again, given humanity more hope.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this piece.  
> RIP Opportunity, you will be missed <3


End file.
